Chapter 18

Mars' magic was versatile but it wasn't particularly stronger than that of a Bestia at his level, especially not when the Bestia in question was the Sword Maiden. Drawing in Vita's divine power from his wives with Abstinence, on the other hand, made him much stronger and faster than his peers physically. That had given him the idea to use it to surprise Artemis.

Artemis excelled in close combat. If he managed to overwhelm her in the field she was strongest in, she would treat him very cautiously and only attack from afar, allowing him to engage in a battle of attrition while dodging her attacks as best as he could.

The first part of his plan had succeeded. He had caught her off guard with his unexpected speed that prevented her from reacting and strength that gave him the ability to resist the increased pressure of her gravity with just his body. Managing to seize the offensive, he had pummelled her relentlessly, wiping out a large chunk of her mana at the cost of his divine power reserves.

But the good outlook hadn't lasted long. Breaking out of his barrage, she had flown upwards and scoured the entire Arena with an area of effect attack.

At this time, the second surprise he had prepared for this match had taken effect.

In preparation for today, he had mastered the use of the shadow doppelganger created by Phobos. He had used light magic to alter the colours of light the shadow doppelganger absorbed and the ones it reflected, modifying it so it would look exactly like him. It had been a month since his mother had promoted to Tier 5 and given him her notes on her path to mastering the Aspect of Radiance. He was currently an Adept in the Aspect.

While he couldn't turn invisible like his mother could, he could make his form fuzzy by bending light around himself. Also, unlike his mother, he wasn't restricted to the use of the light element. He could also use his shadow magic to cast Stealth upon himself. The combined effect of the two had let him evade the notice of most of the spectators and Artemis after using a quick Shadow Walk to jump into one of the areas of shadow in the Arena, leaving his doppelganger behind in his stead. He had been careful to make the switch right when Artemis was disoriented and had broken out of his first barrage of attacks.

Then, as the Princess prepared her attack, he had flown silently upwards, weaving through the light and shadow of the Arena and sneaking up behind her. He had covered himself up in a film of vacuum to block off all scent and sound as well as used his shadow and light magic to hide his visual presence even further.

In her moment of distraction when she believed that she had slipped up and killed him, he had dropped out of the sky from behind her and attacked.

Artemis' entire body began to glow silver as it grew and morphed into her Feral form – a falcon that was three-metres long from tip to tail. Her armour morphed along with her, encasing the large raptor in plates of dark metal. Her sword too melded with the form, forming her tail feathers.

As someone with a Daemonic bloodline and a special affinity, Artemis could have created her own Aspects but she had chosen, instead, to opt for the most common Aspects that existed and fit into her ideal fight style. This way, she would be standing on the shoulders of giants. With the doors of the Imperial library open to her at all times, it was no wonder that she had progressed so fast in her mastery of her Aspects and grown so strong. If she had created her own Aspect, which no one before her had used, then she would be left fumbling in the dark on her own and wasting a lot of time.

The Aspect of Sharpness from wind magic, the Aspect of Gravity from earth magic and the Aspect of Regeneration, a variation of the Aspect of Healing focused solely on healing oneself, from light magic... These three formed the core of her fight system and now, they came together to form her Domain.

With an angered screech, silver mana spewed out of her, leaching the colour out of the world around her and dyeing it a dreary grey. Her feathers detached once again from her wings and this time, instead of shooting at Mars, they circled around her protectively in a tornado of feathery swords. it closely resembled the Tier 2 wind magic: Blade-edge Hurricane.

As she pumped more and more mana into the Domain, the tornado of blades expanded outwards, forcing Mars to retreat again and again. Soon there would be no space left in the Arena for him to hide and he would have to forfeit or be dismembered by a thousand cuts.

Well, sighed Mars, it seemed like he was out of tricks. His magic was as strong as a Tier 3 mage's but the problem was that he had absolutely no counter to a Domain. He cast magic by taking control over the ambient mana but a Domain would push out that mana, replacing it with the mage's personal mana. He could attempt to jack into the Domain but it would end up as a mental tussle for supremacy over the mana with the mage at a much greater advantage as the mana was theirs in the first place. Not worth it. Besides, in this case, as he had no affinity for earth magic, he wouldn't even be able to try.

He sighed again. This was why he had wanted to finish things before she could resort to her Domain. He would have to forfeit the match.

Suddenly, his ears picked up a female voice. Snapping his head around, he saw Deimos standing up on her seat, cupping her hands around her mouth and shouting at him, using her wind mana to direct and amplify her voice. "Master! Use it!" he heard her say.

His eyes widened as he realized what she was referring to. But… was it safe to use? His eyes hardened. The Princess had used a killing technique without any compunctions and if not for his doppelganger, he would be under very real threat of dying under her sword rain. If she could do it, then why was he hesitating?

Setting firm resolve, he took a deep breath, filling his lungs with air. A huge suction erupted from his mouth and all the air in the arena began to flow towards him in a vortex as he pushed his mastery over the wind to the very limit.

Within his lungs, he compressed the air again and again until it was extremely dense. Then he breathed out gently. There was something different in the air he breathed out. Somehow, it seemed like it lacked vitality. This dead air gathered around him, wrapping him up in layer after layer of wind barriers. The swirling masses of air obscured his form, making him seem fuzzy to the observers.

Artemis noticed his actions but she didn't care. A wind barrier was like tissue in front of her Domain. She just accelerated its expansion.

As the Domain bore down upon him, Mars spat out a condensed sphere of air from his mouth.

~ Tier 1 wind magic: Air Bullet ~

The bullet tore through the Domain, knocking away a large number of the feathers as it penetrated into it, making its way towards Artemis at its centre. But as soon as it entered the Domain, Mars lost contact with it and without him holding it together, it destabilized and exploded. At the very same time, a tiny spark of white fire at its core blasted out, breaking the shell of vacuum it was encased by.

~ Tier 3 fire magic: Explosion ~

Incandescent blue flames covered Mars' line of sight, erasing everything like a bucket of paint splashed onto a canvas. His air shields popped like flimsy soap bubbles and a scorching wave of heat washed over him. His last thought before the tidal wave of blue flames submerged him was: "Oops. Maybe that was a bit overkill."

Then, his world turned blue.